Our View: Political politicians? You dare say!

Comment

Journal Star

Writer

Posted Jul. 17, 2014 at 8:47 PM
Updated Jul 17, 2014 at 8:48 PM

Posted Jul. 17, 2014 at 8:47 PM
Updated Jul 17, 2014 at 8:48 PM

Senate Democrats pushed a bill that never had a prayer this week — the “Not My Boss’ Business Act,” an attempted override of the Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby decision. Predictably, it fell a few votes short. It wouldn’t have survived the GOP-led U.S. House anyway. So why’d they do that, knowing it was destined for defeat?

Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tennessee, charged that “Democrats are just trying to win an election” by trying to court female voters angered by the court’s ruling that companies with religious objections need not pay for contraception in their health insurance plans. To which we’d respond: Well, sure.

Isn’t “trying to win an election” squarely behind Republicans’ intransigence regarding immigration reform, too, as they try to appease their temperamental base in advance of the November election? Of course it is.

We’d note that Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois bolted from Republican ranks on this issue. Beyond that, it’s always a hoot when career politicians accuse other career politicians of crassly practicing politics. That they can pull it off with a straight face ... well, never underestimate the acting skills — or the hypocrisy — of the ruling class.